We drove past the Grapeland Safari right on Hwy 287 a couple of times. Looking for something to do, I asked Elaine if she was interested in doing something like that. Then I checked out the online info. The price is normally $15.97 but starting 1 Sep it's on fall special for $7.00. That's a definite yes! We decided to go first thing in the morning before it got warm so the animals wouldn't be hiding in the shade.
We arrived at 9:20 AM. The office was open but no one was there. Elaine knocked on the door of the mobile home back further in the yard....no response but the door was open with only the screen was shut. Chickens were walking around the yard. There were two cockatiels on the office porch. One was on the rail, the other was in a cage. We waited and a few minutes later we saw a pickup truck coming up through the main refuge towards the entrance gate. A few minutes later, a woman jumped out to help us sign in and get our cup of food. Some rules: don't get out of the car, feed out of the cup not your hand, if you drop the cup....leave it and we will pick it up later. One final warning, "I see you have a small car. You can go anywhere but if you through the gate into the back area.....hit the gas and don't let off because it is very sandy and you will get stuck.' Okay then. This park is different from others I have seen. It is a big open area and you drive anywhere you want instead of following a road. We were the only ones there so that was no problem. If it was busy, it might be like dodge-em cars in addition to dodge-em animals.
Well hello there. My name is Wednesday and I am a Bactrian Camel (2 hump). Do you have goodies?
My name is Josie. I'm a Dromedary camel (1 hump) and I will take those goodies.....all of them!
Thank you!
What do you mean Josie took all the goodies???
The zebras didn't have names since there were quite a few. They were very eager to get goodies too but were slightly less pushy than Josie and Wednesday meaning they didn't actually try to climb into the car. Of course we were already laughing histerically.
And we were quick to warn each other when one of the animals was rapidly approaching so we could roll the window up if necessary.
We were pretty sure that the owners were out in their truck feeding the animals when we arrived. One big clue was the two lines of various animals we saw when we first rolled into the enclosure.
This Watusi cow came up pretty quickly and my little car was a bit concerned about being "horned".
Elained rolled the window up before his horns got any closer.
Only this guy was looking hard for a handout. The big horned one of that group was a Zebu and the Beefalo Cow in the front was Fiona.
I told Elaine to watch out when the Emu came up as he could get his head inside pretty quickly.
It wasn't too happy with her quick action. By this time, both of us were out of food.
Bison ahead!
And closing in fast!
The yaks were interested but slightly shyer or they figured out we were out of food.
What do you mean the camels ate it?
Labelled buffalo but we all know they are bison.
Not sure if this llama is is Betty, Lola, Maria, or Ying Hang.
Oh, deer me, no more food?
Doesn't one look white with brown stripes and the other look brown with white stripes?
Roll down the window please or I may have to eat your mirror.
Not hungry thank you.
Be a deer and give me a handout please.
Enough with the begging Mom, I'm hungry too.
We were hoping to see the kangaroos in their pen on the way out but they were chatting in the shade of their enclosure.
Everyone was ready to head out to the back area right about the time we were ready to leave so our timing was great.
Hey, wait for me!
We saw everyone so we decided we didn't want to chance the sand going through the gate into the back lot.
Just as we were ready to pull out, a couple was coming in in a pickup. Most of the animals were now in the back area but I guess they might be okay with their pickup. We had a great time!
